LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Turnout was light around the state on Tuesday as early voting began for an Arkansas primary runoff that's highlighted by an increasingly bitter fight for the Republican nomination for attorney general.

Secretary of State Mark Martin's office said 3,708 voters had cast a ballot by mid-afternoon Tuesday, the first day of early voting for the June 10 runoff. Martin's office has predicted only 3 or 4 percent of the state's 1.6 million registered voters will cast a ballot in the runoff.

Turnout for the May 20 primary was 21 percent.

The only statewide race in the election is the GOP runoff for attorney general, which pits Little Rock lawyers Leslie Rutledge and David Sterling against each other. The winner of the runoff will face Democratic state Rep. Nate Steel in the November election. The election also includes GOP runoffs for a north Arkansas state Senate seat, and a southeast Arkansas state House seat.

The two are running on similar vows to use the office to fight the federal government, and have been sparring increasingly in the final days of the campaign over who has the experience and conservative credentials to do so.

Rutledge, a former lawyer for the Republican National Committee and ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee, touted herself as the candidate with the best experience to challenge the federal government.

"We both are talking about fighting an overreaching federal government, but I'm the only person that's ever fought against an overreaching federal government," Rutledge said after voting early Tuesday.

Sterling, who said he expected to vote early sometime this week, has accused Rutledge of overstating her experience and said he's the only one with a concrete plan to fight the federal government. Sterling has proposed creating a task force of lawyers that would study laws and regulations to challenge in court.

"I think there's a huge difference in our experience and that experience will translate to who's more qualified to use the office to protect state authority and individual liberty," Sterling said Monday night.

The race has also been marked by an infusion of spending by outside groups supporting Sterling's bid. The Judicial Crisis Network has been airing a television spot praising Sterling for saying he'd push for a "stand your ground" law in Arkansas. The spot compares Rutledge to Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama for not advocating a similar measure. Rutledge has denounced the ad, while Sterling said he didn't believe it was inaccurate.

Among those casting a ballot early Tuesday was Walter Hutchison, a Democrat who said he'll vote for Steel in the fall but backed Rutledge in the GOP primary runoff because he was bothered by the ad.

"I don't want to see those ads again in the general election, so that's why I voted for her," said Hutchison, a 66-year-old retiree from Scott who voted in downtown Little Rock.